Essay on Solar Energy, Importance, Speech & Article in English

Nature has always given us everything we needed for our survival. But our greed has made us so blind that we are ripping off everything in our sight just for our own benefits and ignoring the damage it is doing to nature. There are so many things nature is providing us from thousands of years and solar energy is one of them. Solar energy is one of the renewable energy sources and has become a need of the time as the fossil fuel sources are vanishing with each coming year. It is the time everyone should turn to solar energy now.

In this article, we have given you all the information about solar energy such as the history of solar energy, advantages, and disadvantages of solar energy, importance, the comparison between solar energy and other energy sources, solar energy in India etc. This information will help you write an essay on solar energy or to prepare a speech on solar energy. So let’s go ahead.

Essay on Solar Energy, Speech & Article in English for Students

Introduction

Solar energy is the energy which is obtained directly from sunlight. Special process and chemicals are used in order to convert sunlight into electrons which conduct electricity. Currently, it is one of the most promising energy sector thanks to the fact that it is a completely renewable source of energy without the risk of getting depleted.

History of Solar Power

Alexandre Edmond Becquerel in 1839 discovered the science behind photovoltaic effects which is the main technology used in solar power generation. Although he was credited with the discovery of the effect yet the solar cells used to convert sunlight into electricity was not efficient in the long run and thus were not fit to be used for further processes. It was only in 1941 that Russell Ohl invented the modern solar cell. Solar rooftop panels were first introduced by Charles Fritts in 1884 in New York, which however hardly gained momentum at the time. In 1891, Clarence Kemp provided the solar water heater for 25$.

However, the research on solar energy lost quite a momentum on account of the discovery of gas in 1920. Further in time, as world wars approached and ammunition industries gained momentum, cheap petroleum, coal, gas became subsidized and highly sought after energy resources. All this time, the impetus on solar energy was never thought about in serious and expansive manner.

It was in 1973, post the oil embargo put on during Arab Israeli war and the second embargo coming soon in 1979, both these events put a question mark on the invincibility of cheap petroleum and coal as the ‘sole’ source of energy. Which made the US rethink it’s priorities in the conventional source of power and renewed research was put in for solar power development. In 1990s federal tax credit was offered to organizations and individual residences opting for solar power installation.

In India, the government offered subsidy based solar thermal programme from 1984 with the focus upon soft loans, subsidy and demonstration for enhanced solar power expansion. In India, solar cookers have always been extremely popular with almost 6lakh family solar cookers installed countrywide till date.

Advantages, Benefits of Solar Energy

Solar energy has too many advantages for itself. Few can be listed as follows:

Cleanest source of Energy

Solar energy happens to be one of those energies that leaves almost negligible carbon footprints and emissions while transforming sunlight into energy. Solar panels do not require combustion or emission of synthetic material on a constant basis to emit the electricity they generate.

Master Renewable Source

Solar energy is harnessed from the sunlight, which is the most abundantly available source to generate energy. Not only is it almost cheap but also it is something that is more or less available regardless of geographical location. With a huge potential for further research and development, even cold places with minimal sunlight days can be brought under solar energy ambit with adequate modification and design of solar cells.

Low Maintenance Cost

Solar panels on an average have a lifespan of 25 years and industry level PV plants have even more. This makes it one of the most secure single domain energy resource which does not require several other peripheral costs to run in parallel. Once the installation is done, which is relatively costly, the maintenance part comes real cheap. The lines need to be checked and the inverter is the only thing that needs replacement every 5 to 10 years.

Diversified Applications

Solar energy has both thermal (needed for heat) and photovoltaic (needed for electricity) applications. This makes solar energy available for diverse uses. There are even options with increased R&D for storage of solar energy which makes it a dynamic source of energy.

Disadvantages of Solar Energy

Although it is hard to find a spot of the disadvantage with solar energy yet nevertheless it has certain limitations associated with it.

High Installation Cost

The installation of solar panel is considerably high. Besides after the solar bubble, as most countries are rolling away from the high proportion subsidies and manufacturing costs remaining the same, the higher initial costs to act as a deterrent in several cases. Especially with cheaper and lucrative conventional energy substitutes being there. The only good insight is, given the current energy requirements, with enhanced research on the technology prices might go down well in future.

High Storage Cost

Storage of solar energy is expensive and given the fact that it is dependent on the amount of sunlight received, the places not receiving enough sunlight would have it the costly way in order to obtain electricity or energy from solar panels. Bitter cold situations would prove to be cost ineffective to generate electricity from inadequate sunlight available.

Take up a Lost of Space

Solar panels are bulky and since the number of panels required is commensurate with the total area of energy requirement, sometimes for large spaces the installation of solar panels become unwieldy. Besides south being the most favored direction for optimal utilization of solar energy, in case of locations where choosing that direction is not possible, a lot of cost potential is lost.

Solar Energy versus Other sources of Energy

When one compares solar energy to other fossil fuel energy the two areas where solar energy scores the biggest high are, one, It is one of the cleanest energy available compared to fossil fuel energy and two, the cost factor is far less than fossil fuel. The solar panels require very less maintenance and on an average is certain to last 25 to 30 years with a low maintaining cost, while on the other hand fossil fuels would require high maintaining and operating cost and even installation of the same with all drilling is far more environmentally threatening than the solar panels.

Solar energy basically involves silicon cells converting sunlight into energy form, which scientifically tantamount to converting a resting source of energy into dynamic energy which can be channelized in multiplied manner. This makes it far more efficient than fossil fuels which first needs to be burned and only then it can be channelized. This also makes solar energy more innovative as with ongoing research and development, ways can be devised in order to make it more efficient, which clearly fossil fuel sources cannot hope to do.

In comparison to other renewable sources of energy like wind and hydropower, solar energy scores better as the installation costs are relatively more feasible. For wind and hydroelectric setup, location and access to water and windy area might both be a constraint as much it can be difficult for high rises to install bulky hydro or wind power panels. Solar energy panels, although relatively costlier can be installed almost anywhere as the sun shines on a greater average across the globe (the density might differ) than water or wind can be selectively accessed. Besides, it is often argued that hydropower pipes can freeze in cold conditions and windmills produce considerable noise in high functioning hours, both of which is not a constraint for solar panels.

Solar Energy in India

India having an average annual 300 days of unhindered sunlight is one of the best countries with potential for an all-around utilization of solar energy. The total sunlight received on land amounts to a value of 5000 trillion kilowatt hours which far exceeds every other fossil energy capacity presently available to India.

The requirement of solar energy in India is furthered by the need of power required for the huge industrial potential of India in the long run. Given the dearth of fossil fuel in the current scenario and rise of illegal power theft happening in the existing power lines, solar energy becomes the best alternative to the present problem of power in India.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy governs the various solar energy projects in India. Presently there are several ongoing projects being carried on under the solar R&D work, broadly categorized under solar photovoltaic projects and solar thermal projects. Each project is headed by eminent scientists and researchers from the esteemed varsities and institutes of the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modihas given an added impetus to India’s renewable energy sector by setting a high-value target of increasing the renewable capacity from 57GW in 2017 to 175 GW by 2022 out of which almost 100GW is expected out of solar photovoltaic projects. Various financial institutions are currently teaming up with the major Indian banks in order to provide fluid finance available for the solar energy grid installation. The World Bank committed to lending India close to 1 billion dollars for installing grid-scale solar energy projects. This makes it one of the highest financiers for India in the solar energy domain.

The National Institute of Solar Energy is currently an autonomous institute set up in place of the previous Solar Energy Center which is vested with the scope of assisting the MNRE in solar energy projects. The Indian government, in a bid to attract more investment, consumption, and utilization of the solar energy has brought down solar PV power purchase price to Rs 4 per kWh. Previously it was Rs. 4.43 and thus it has caused a substantial fall in the solar power generation equipment price. Solar thermal power plants with thermal storage have the capacity to generate electricity throughout the day based on the clean load-following power plants. This is better than the existing solar non-storage plants which incur higher costs also supply intermittent power which cannot adjust to the various shifting load requirements throughout the day. The good point is, the existing non-storage solar plants can be easily converted into storage type thermal plants in order to generate cheaper baseload power without the need of further subsidies from the government.

Rooftop solar thermal systems for solar water heaters are now a common feature in several Indian cities. Bangalore is the first city to give a rebate of 50rs in electricity bills for all residents using solar heater panels. In Pune too, it has been made mandatory for every new residential project to install solar rooftop heaters. By 2012 over 46 lakh solar lamps were introduced for home lighting purpose, which was made readily available by small loans and had the capacity to replace traditional kerosene lamps. Thin film solar cell panels offer better heat retention capacity and thus can be efficiently used for the purpose of daytime high voltage consumption of refrigerators, air conditioning.

Even excess solar power generated throughout the day can be well stored in ordinary discarded electric vehicle battery. This actually helps summertime high available solar energy to replace existing grid lines for powering air conditioners and refrigerators and desert coolers. This is one of the main reasons, the Indian government currently encourages every residential owner to install solar panels in the home in order to best benefit from the available solar energy investments in the country.

Interesting Facts and Statistics about Solar Energy

Solar energy is currently that energy market which has the potential to recreate the energy dynamics of the world. An overview of the following aspects would help give us a better picture:

Since 1977 the cost of solar panels has fallen up to 100 times, making it currently one of the most affordable clean energy sources.

In February 2018, a University in Germany could convert 26.1% of sunlight into solar energy which is just 3 percent short of the 29% theoretical limit capacity the silicon-based solar cells exude.

Global PV photovoltaic installations now stand at 165 GW from a meager 21 MW in 1985

In America many people are opting for solar panel installation at home on account of the huge savings it can make in a span of 20 years after offsetting the cost of initial installation.

Maharashtra in India has the world’s largest solar steam system at the Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust which helps to cook daily meals served to about 50000 pilgrims saving 100000kg of cooking gas and runs on steam that does not even require electricity.

Rajasthan in India has the world’s largest Fresnel Type 125 Mega Watt capacity Concentrated Solar Power system Plant at the Dhirubhai Ambani Solar Park

Karnataka is the top solar power state in India and it has a current capacity of 5000 MW of solar power.

Ground Mounted solar power capacity in India exceeded its target limit in 2018 standing at 9009 MW when the target was 9000 MW.

Conclusion

Solar power is no buzzword. It is the future of energy as compared to fossil fuel it releases 90% lesser greenhouse gases. In order to save the planet from running out of valuable resource and preventing environmental degradation alike, solar energy remains the best option to go for.

Tips for Essay on Solar Energy

Here are some best tips which will help you to write an essay on solar energy.

Essays are made of 3 essential parts and those are an introduction to the topic, information body, and conclusion and the en of the essay. Try to write your essay in this format.

Keep your handwriting neat and clean for the essay.

Stick with the topic of the essay. Do not write vague sentences a lot.

Use a dark inked pen to write your essay.

The conclusion on the essay should be short yet suitable.

Tips for Speech on Solar Energy

Here are some tips for the speech on solar energy which will help you.

Practice your speech in front of your friends, family members or the mirror to gain the confidence.

Do not eat of drink anything cold, oily, spicy before your speech. It will affect your voice.

Be loud enough to be audible to the audience.

Use hand gestures wherever suitable.

I hope you liked my humble attempt of providing the information. If you liked this essay, speech, article then please Rate this article with 5 stars and leave a comment in the comment section below. Thank you. 🙂

About the author

Ajay Chavan

Hey guys! I am Ajay Chavan, a small town guy walking down the path to my dream. A hell-bent person who never gives up.
I love to write about stuff that makes a difference in someone's life.
And Hey! I am also the Co-Founder and COO of TeenAtHeart.